Abstract:
This study aimed to determine whether the use of prosodically varied speech within a
traditional language therapy framework had any effect on the listening skills, pragmatic skills
and social interaction behaviour of three children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A
single participant multiple baseline design across behaviours was implemented. Three
participants with ASD were selected for this research. The listening skills, pragmatic skills and
social interaction behaviour of the participants were compared before treatment, after a 3-week
period of treatment and after a 2-week withdrawal period from treatment, utilising prosodically
varied speech within a traditional language therapy approach. Statistical significance was not
calculated for each individual due to the limited data, but visual inspection indicated that all
the participants showed positive behavioural changes in performance across all areas after 3
weeks of treatment, independent of their pre-treatment performance level. The use of
prosodically varied speech within a traditional language therapy framework appears to be a
viable form of treatment for children with ASD.
Description:
S.K. was the main contributing author of this article and
submitted the article in partial fulfilment of the degree Master
of Communication Pathology. B.V. was the main supervisor
of the masters project and S.G. was the co-supervisor of the
masters project and edited multiple drafts of the manuscript
and subsequent article.
